“Horses form strong friendships,” says Hrefna Sigurjónsdóttir, Professor of Biology at the School of Education. Her research is about the social behaviour of horses; in her study she followed a herd of wild horses in Austur-Landeyjar. Sigurjónsdóttir worked on this project with Anna G. Þórallsdóttir, Professor at the Agricultural University of Iceland and two students.
The area was ruled by four stallions, each with his own herd, roaming an area of around 200 hectares. There were no fences in this area to separate the herds, but each stallion kept his herd within a certain area. Although the areas overlapped the herds did not mix. Sigurjónsdóttir says that there was surprisingly little fighting. “We followed the herds for 320 hours altogether; a task craving perseverance and patience. The first nights were cold and a few times we had to flee from sand storms! The warm overalls and hot coffee in a can is what gets you by on such a job,” says Sigurjónsdóttir.
She says that these herds are no more inbred than organized studs, nature seems to take care of this. “The stallions drive young horses away at a certain point; including their offspring, and at that point they learn to fend for themselves and adapt to a new herd.”
“The herds are hierarchical and are based on a complicated network of friendship. When a new horse enters a herd it is usually excluded to begin with and it must show courage to earn a place in the herd. Sometimes the reigning stallion protects the new one. We know that young horses sometimes seek shelter from the superior horses.”
Sigurjónsdóttir says that the study she carried out with her associates can be of practical value to breeders of horses nationwide. It is necessary for horses to grow up in a stud or herd; for thus the young learn the rules of their society. Sigurjónsdóttir says Iceland is considered a unique environment for raising horses.
